Hatchet — Chapter 19

About This Passage

This is the book's most surprising passage — Brian feels uneasy about having a rifle, the one thing that would make him safer. Paulsen shows that Brian's hard-won knowledge of the woods has become more precious to him than easy power. The rifle 'removes' Brian from the place he has learned to be part of. For trailblazers, this is the philosophical heart of the chapter: what we gain from tools, and what they can take from us.

Narration Prompt

Retell chapter 19 as a sequence: Brian wakes at gray dawn and opens the survival pack; he unpacks sleeping gear, a cook set, matches, butane lighters, a knife-compass, a first-aid kit, a Cessna cap, and a fishing kit; he assembles the .22 rifle and feels it 'removed him from everything'; he lights the fire with a butane lighter and has the same uneasy feeling; he finds the emergency transmitter, turns it on, hears nothing, and decides it is broken; he finds soap and plans to wash his hair; he discovers the freeze-dried food; he decides to feast before rationing; he mixes orange drink and begins cooking beef and peach whip; a bushplane lands on the lake; a pilot steps out and says he heard the transmitter; Brian speaks his own name and offers the pilot food.

Discussion Questions

1. Brian calls the pack's contents 'unbelievable riches' and compares them to 'all the holidays in the world.' How can you tell from the chapter that Brian values things differently now than he did before the crash? What does the text show about what an ordinary kid at home would think about matches, soap, and a knife? What has Brian learned that has changed his sense of what is valuable?
2. When Brian picks up the rifle, the book says it 'removed him from everything around him.' What does 'removed' mean here — not physically moved, but separated in some deeper way? How do you know Brian is uneasy about this even though a rifle would make him safer? What does this tell you about what Brian has come to love about the woods?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide

Paulsen writes, 'The pack was wonderful but it gave him up and down feelings.' What does Brian mean by up-and-down feelings? What is making him happy, and what is making him uneasy at the same time? Why might both feelings be honest at once?